Bright
by AozoraNoShita
Summary: Short, cliche one-shot. Sasuke knows a great place to look at the stars. Naruto knows how to dance. FLUFF. Sasunaru. Awww.


(A/N: Continuing in the form of "Sweet." I guess I could have posted this as another chapter to that story…I just felt so…I dunno, incompetent? for not having a new idea that could actually be made into a multi-chapter fic. So I decided to make myself feel better by posting an entirely new "story." So ha.)

Anyways, here's what you gotta know:

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything. Seriously. Except for a cat. But definitely not Naruto.

**Warnings**: Fluffffff. Portions where I don't make clear who's supposed o be talking. Complete and utter cliché. Minor OOC-ness, but they're supposed to be younger (and more hormone-y. Not a total douche like Sasuke is in the recent chapters.)

Okay that's it.

~AoNoShi

**Bright**

"It's a nice sunset, I guess," Naruto said reluctantly. "Not worth missing a party for."

"Hn," Sasuke replied, sitting cross-legged on the grass.

"Oh, come _on_," Naruto whined. "There's a sunset _every _night. We're talking about Ino's fourteenth birthday party! You know, the big one-four?"

"Don't care."

"Don't be such a jerk!"

"The thing about sunsets, _dobe_," Sasuke said slowly, "is that they're different each time."

Naruto just stared at him blankly, and he sighed.

"Look," Naruto said, pointing down at the village from their vantage point on the side of the hill. "I think I can see the courtyard that's been rented for tonight. Her family's really going all-out. You can tell that's it 'cuz there's this string of lights hanging from those two trees and—"

"Lights?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Yeah, you see those bright ones—" He was interrupted again as Sasuke abruptly stood up.

"Does this mean we're going?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"You can go if you want to." He started moving further up the hill.

"But I don't want to go without you!" Naruto exclaimed, hurrying after him.

Sasuke tried to ignore the strange way his stomach flipped when he heard that.

"Don't be ridiculous. It'll be fun. Go." He picked up his pace, but Naruto easily kept up with him.

"Are you even listening to what you're saying? Why don't you give yourself the same advice?"

"I don't like _fun_."

Naruto actually stopped short at this. Sasuke took a few more steps before pausing, turning to look back at his friend. Naruto's mouth was hanging slightly open, and his gaze was incredulous.

"Kidding," he said with a smirk.

Naruto's mouth snapped shut and his expression turned indignant.

"That wasn't funny!" And he scrambled to catch up again. Sasuke waited until Naruto reached him, then resumed his trek.

"My idea of fun," he said after a few minutes of silent hiking, "just isn't the same as most people's."

"I'll say," Naruto grumbled, but didn't press the subject.

By the time they reached the top, the sun had just slipped under the horizon, but the sky was still tinged a pale pink with yellow streaks.

They both stopped for a moment to stare at the sky.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice the way the dying light illuminated Naruto's face, and the way his yellow hair glowed like gold, and how his eyes shone, and—

He frowned and shook his head. He sounded like a girl in some bad romance novel.

And why _was_ he noticing these things, anyway? Must be the idiot's jacket. Orange was a very eye-catching color, after all.

Yeah. That had to be it.

Pointedly looking away from Naruto, he started down the other side of the hill.

"Where are we _going_, teme?" Naruto asked exasperatedly.

Sasuke didn't even bother to answer. He just stuck his hands in his pockets and headed down the hill towards the forest. For a minute he thought Naruto had finally turned back. Then there was that glimpse of orange out of the corner of his eye.

"Stubborn idiot," he sighed.

"I heard that."

It got darker and darker as they descended. The sky was a shade of indigo by the time they reached the outskirt of the forest.

Naruto moved closer to his side as they entered the narrow dirt path leading between the trees. He pretended not to notice.

The path Sasuke had discovered less than a year ago. As far as he could tell, no one else knew about it. He didn't know what the purpose of the path had been before, but apparently it wasn't needed anymore. Grass had started to grow back in, and there were a few tiny shoots where trees had dropped their seeds. In a few years, the path would be choked with saplings. After that, it would disappear completely, back under the forest floor, like it had never existed.

Although he couldn't see the sky through the thick tangle of branches overhead, he could tell it was almost completely dark. Darker than usual. It was a new moon tonight.

Good.

Although it was harder to see in the dark, the red marker he had tied around a branch was still visible. He turned to the right, stepping off the path and into the woods. Naruto followed without comment.

It took about five more minutes of walking to reach the "clearing." Really, it was just a tiny patch of grass with an opening above it, so the sky was visible.

Sasuke didn't look up until after he'd lay down on the grass. Naruto stretched out next to him, very close.

The stars. There were so many visible, like a fine mist of white against a blue-black backdrop. On the night of a new moon, they looked even brighter than usual. Well, maybe not. They just _looked_ brighter without the moon to compare them to. Still, he liked to think…

"Wow," Naruto said quietly. He paused, then, "Are the stars always like this?"

"No moon tonight. They just _look_ brighter than usual."

"Oh. But maybe they really do shine brighter when the moon is gone. Like they're trying to show they're just as good, or something."

Sasuke was about to tell him that was ridiculous, but he paused when he realized just how close Naruto's idea was to his own thoughts. He turned his head just as the blond turned his. Naruto beamed at him as their eyes met.

And there was that strange feeling in his stomach again. Naruto's smile was so…

"Bright," he murmured.

"Huh?"

"Uh, the lights. In the village. You can see the stars better away from the lights in the village."

"So that's why we came out here?"

"Yeah." Sasuke turned his face away. Prolonged exposure to that smile was obviously unhealthy.

"Well I guess this is better than a birthday party. I'm still kinda disappointed that I didn't get to show off my mad dancing skills, though."

Sasuke snorted.

"What? I'm a good dancer!" The blond sat up and leaned over Sasuke, blocking his view.

"Get up and dance with me and I'll show you!"

"No!" Sasuke exclaimed, flustered. Dance with Naruto…?

He could feel his face heating up. With Naruto right there above him, there was no way to hide it. He just hoped it would be dark enough that he wouldn't notice—

"Are you _blushing_?"

—or not.

"Stupid, bright stars," he muttered.

Naruto just laughed.

The End

(A/N: Hey, this is like five and a half pages, double-spaced. That's more than twice as long as "Sweet."

I apologize for any misspellings and/or grammar problems. My beta is WinWord's Spellcheck.

I also apologize for any mentions you may find of 'Simon,' 'Nathaniel,' or 'Isabella.' Those are my code names for Sasuke, Naruto, and Ino. I get paranoid about people reading over my shoulder, so while I'm typing I use codenames. Just so you don't think, "Who the hell are these people?"

Reviews are much appreciated.)


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